Since moving to Berlin and shaking up my world so much, I have tried to say yes to new experiences as much as possible. I am on leave from the UMC and am limited in how much I am supposed to do in that arena of work which frees me up to exploring so many more avenues of myself. These are things that I never had time to do or have always wanted to do. Plus I have the huge gift of having a supportive partner who encourages me to follow these ideas, experiences, and mini jobs that might bring me new perspective.

My visa has also changed so instead of limiting work to the realm of just connected to churches I have expanded to being able to work anywhere but on a more limited time basis. I am now not allowed to work more than half time or there is a cap to how much I can make. I can apply for what are called “mini jobs.” This means that every once in a while I glance at what is asking for employees, usually in English, and apply for things I never would have before.

You should also note that I am someone who gets intrigued but what is going on in the world and then try to figure it out by doing much of the time.  For example, when gig economy first started to really take off…Uber, Postmates, etc….I became a “Postmate” to really see who is applying, how much you actually make per hour, what that culture is like. I didn’t do it a lot but enough to learn some really fascinating things.  Like when I went to “training” there were 25 of us in the room, 2 women, 2 white people (not the same 2 by the way) and many were from Africa and Mexico (yes, I asked around).  And there is a culture around those who meet doing gig economy type jobs.  Another blog for another day.

So I applied to this job at Babbel, a language learning app.  It was advertisement calling for people to act in a video series for their app. I applied months ago and promptly forgot about it until I got an email two weeks ago that said they loved my application and could I send them a video of myself.  I replied that the only video I had on me was one of a sermon I gave in June in Portland. So I sent the link.

Last week I received an email back saying that they loved the video and wanted me to come in for a screen test because I am a finalist for a role! Whhhaaa? Awesome! Yes! This is new! I have never done a screen test before…

I got on the Ubahn on Tuesday and went to my first ever screen test.  It was about an hour of improv, reading script, talking into the camera and I had a total blast doing it. I started out nervous but then thought to myself, “whatever this is, it is a fun experience and I will walk away happy.”  Made all the difference, let me tell you.  AND everyone in the office had watched my sermon. They loved it. They had thoughts about it. They dug in deep and had theological thoughts about it.  I was so blown away and touched and then realized that perhaps this is also what the world is yearning for. They were looking for how I “performed” and got caught up in how it felt and what it meant. Bingo. Yes.

They asked if I could pretend to be confused by German and pretend like I didn’t know much of it. I told them I could definitely manage that. 😉 They asked if I could act friendly and be confused by the German response. Oh yes I can.  They asked if I could tell a story about an awkward encounter with German.  Can I tell hundreds?  Seriously, I had a blast.

I don’t know what will happen. I definitely hope I get a role and can go to shooting for that experience. Wouldn’t that be wild and why not?

Saying yes really doesn’t help us enjoy the life put before us.